Residents in the Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge area will be able to access free, regular, rapid coronavirus testing from Friday 9th April as part of a new Government initiative across England.
Rapid testing has so far been available to those most at risk and people who need to leave home for work, including frontline NHS workers, care home staff and residents, and schoolchildren and their families.
From this Friday, though, rapid testing will be offered to everyone, with people encouraged to take regular tests (twice a week) to help prevent outbreaks and reclaim a more normal way of life.
One in three people with COVID-19 do not experience any symptoms and may be spreading the virus unwittingly. Rapid testing detects cases quickly, meaning positive cases can isolate immediately.
The expanded regular testing offer for people without symptoms will be delivered through:
- community testing on site at one of the testing sites, offered by all local authorities
- collection at a local test site to take away during specific test collection time windows
- workplace testing programmes, on-site or at home
- testing on-site at schools and colleges
- a home ordering service, which allows people to order lateral flow tests online to be delivered to their home by clicking here
To find out how to book a lateral flow test if you do not have any symptoms, please click here
A new ‘Pharmacy Collect’ service is also launching which will provide an additional route to regular testing.
People aged over 18 without symptoms will be able to visit a participating local pharmacy and collect a box of 7 rapid tests to use twice a week at home.
More details on which local Somerset pharmacies are participating will be available shortly.
